7 Marketing Trends for 2010 That You Can Expect to See

7 Marketing Trends for 2010 That You Can Expect to See

7 Trends Marketers Can Expect to See in 2010

The
facts, stats and true in-the-trenches business experiences of 2009 now
tell marketers a lot about what to expect for 2010 — the
value-oriented, thrifty approach cemented in 2009 isn’t likely to
change. Below is a quick review of some of the key things marketers
should look for in the coming year.

1. Pent-up demand from the jet set.
For the super wealthy demographic, expect that luxury items will be
back in vogue as pent-up demand for jewelry, cars, homes, boats and
fashion — at today’s reduced costs — increases. Unfortunately, this is
unlikely to offset the dramatic falloff seen from the much larger
affluent group that accounted for much of the demand growth during the
run-up to the recession.

2. Personal fulfillment for the rest of us.
Whereas pre-recession discretionary money was reserved for items people
didn’t need but wanted, the recession and its epic duration have now
made people’s hobbies and passions indispensable as a means to relieve
stress and add back pleasure into their lives. Revenues from home
improvement; home-based interests like gardening and exercise; and
passion hobbies like crafts, music, fishing, etc., will stay in vogue
and continue to capture wallet share.

3. Just the basics for the apparel market.
Recovery in this sector will likely take all of 2010, and I believe
we’ll see minimal increased spending. An exception to this could be
wardrobe maintenance and accessories: “yes” to blouses, shirts,
jackets, slacks and low-cost accessories, but “no” to high-end designer
fashion unless it also has a high perceived value. It’s an exciting
time for the fashion industry to diversify and pursue new opportunities.

4. The mature market will keep booming.
I expect the mature market — including insurance, financial services,
health care products and domestic travel — to see revenue growth
throughout the year as aging baby boomers continue to need to make
ongoing decisions about their futures.

5. Paid content will test its limits.
This year will be the year of publishers testing paid content business
models as lean advertising has forced publishers to develop new revenue
streams without significant cash outlays. Where the line between paid
and free exists, and whether the fundamental shift in technology and
the internet’s jarring redirect of consumers’ reading behavior has made
getting paid moot, will be tested.

6. Newspapers will leverage strong regional brands and databases.
National and large regional newspapers are rallying together to create
higher-value advertising relationships that result in higher ad rates.
In order to successfully create their own ad networks and potentially
bypass Google and other low-CPM advertising outlets, they'll have to
offer refined demographic targeting of their databases.

7. Social media will grow up.
This year will mark social media's crossover into the demand
requirements of traditional return on investment-based search, display
and email campaigns. Marketers know audience measurement and impact
need to be brought into the calculation, but figuring out just how and
what to measure will require a different set of analytics.

Chris Paradysz is CEO of PM Digital, a New York City-based internet marketing agency specializing in search engine marketing. Chris can be reached at cparadysz@pmdigital.com.